Indelible

Indelible : A Novel Karin Slaughter Date: 27 July, 2004   —   $16.47   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Thriller

This latest of the Grant County saga deals with the past: Jeffrey's somewhat checkered background, the strange course his relationship with Sara took, and the lies and truths of a small town that dog them to this day. Of course, sometimes the past not only dogs you, but comes shooting into the police station, creating a hostage situation while those outside attempt to figure out why two teenaged boys targeted the Chief of Police.

Especially since no one recognizes who they are.

Again, there is definitely a warning for extreme violence on this book. Read with care.

Kisscut

Kisscut Karin Slaughter Date: 30 September, 2003   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Thriller

"Kisscut" is a term I was unfamiliar with, a description of a photography technique in which a slice is made in the photo, but not all the way through, so as to excise an element or replace it with another one. The goal of such a technique is to alter a photo with little or no sign of it having been done.

Or it could just be one character's term for the process. It was a little unclear.

Anyway, as with all of Slaughter's novels, this one drops you straight into the action. A confrontation at the town skating rink ends with a thirteen-year-old girl dead, shot by the Chief of Police, Jeffrey Tolliver, and a dead baby in the bathroom. The seemingly straightforward tale of love and betrayal soon spirals out of control as it becomes evident at the autopsy that there is no way possible for the girl to have given birth to the baby - so whose was it, and why did she take the actions that literally dared the police to shoot her?

And again, as with Slaughter's other novels, this is an extremely graphic work, this one dealing with various forms of abuse. Tread with caution.

Blindsighted

Blindsighted Karin Slaughter Date: 01 October, 2002   —   $7.50   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Thriller

In this novel, the aptly named Slaughter introduces us to Grant County, a Southern area where pediatrician and coroner (small town) Sara Linton lives and works near her ex-husband Jeffrey Tolliver, who is chief of police. When she finds a dying woman in the town diner's restroom, the entire town gets into an upheaval - Sybil was murdered in a peculiar manner that might point to Sara's past.

While the "blindsight" of the title is reference to the drug given to the dying woman, which produces tunnel vision, it also points to the fact that the increasingly violent killer is the sort of person one might overlook. In the tradition of all good thrillers, the killer is introduced early on, but of course seems unobvious until near the final confrontation.

One final note; this book is extremely graphic, including autopsy descriptions and the actions of a killer who is deeply deranged.

Jane of Lantern Hill

Jane of Lantern Hill Lucy Maud Montgomery Date: 1937   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Juvenile

Like most of L.M. Montgomery's books, this one deals with the longing for family. Jane Victoria Stuart lives with her mother and formidable grandmother in a Toronto house where propriety is the rule. Grandmother is extremely possessive of Jane's young, pretty mother and severe to Jane, who reaches her eleventh year before she discovers that her father is actually alive but separated from her mother. She becomes extremely frightened when he demands to have her for a summer - after all, she loves her mother dearly - but discovers, upon reaching Prince Edward Island, that he is everything that she never had in Toronto. And now her goal is to gain that happiness for her mother as well.

I must admit that I am a big sucker for Montgomery's writing. I identify strongly with her heroines, which is strange because my family has always been most excellent, the sort of family her protagonists are always searching for. Perhaps it's merely because she allows her characters to have happy endings, which is something that is all too rare in books today.

A Winter Haunting

A Winter Haunting Dan Simmons Date: 2002   —   $7.50   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Horror

In this semi-sequel to Summer of Night, one of the grown-up children of that novel returns to the town of Elm Haven forty years later in order to ostensibly write a novel about the summer of 1960, a summer he barely remembers. In reality, he is going back in order to deal with his own private demons, the depression and suicidal tendencies that came about after a marriage-ending affair fell apart. Of course, it's not going to be that simple. Elm Haven, while not as disturbing as Stephen King's Castle Rock, is still not quite firmly on the side of reality.

Dale Stewart has rented the farmhouse of his childhood friend Duane McBride, who was killed that summer under bizarre circumstances. Bizarre circumstances persist, first with sightings of strange black dogs, then with lights in the blocked-off portion of the house, and instant messages on the computer even though Dale has no telephone connection. Of course, the real-life danger of some Neo-Nazi skinheads who have taken a dislike to Dale (because of some articles he has written in the past) only adds to the dangerous feel of the isolated farmhouse. And as the novel progresses, it becomes a serious question as to whether Dale is going to survive, especially as Simmons has shown no reluctance to kill off major characters in the past.

This novel is particularly good at portraying a supernatural event, especially as Dale is unwilling to accept it as so. He well and truly believes that he is going off his rocker. Yet the occurences - without explanation - are a good example of an old-fashioned haunting.

Peter and the Starcatchers

Peter and the Starcatchers Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson Date: 2004   —   $17.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Juvenile Fantasy

Wonderful are the children's books that come about because of children, because they most clearly speak to what the children want to read. This one came about because a certain author's daughter asked him just how a certain flying boy and a certain pirate came to meet, and the resulting narrative is an adventure that, thankfully, does not end up too sappily sweet (even though it did get the approval of the Disney corporation.)

This is mainly because the authors are men who can write. One might be misled by Dave Barry's over-the-top humor in his columns and books, or Ridley Pearson's hardboiled mysteries, into thinking that these two would be incapable of stretching beyond their respective genres. One would be wrong. This is a story that feels plausibly old without being old-fashioned, incorporates absurd elements without making the story a Dali-esque parody of the Alice in Wonderland stripe, and brings about a Peter that, honestly, I like better than the J.M. Barrie classic. Moreover, it includes a good explanation of just about everything in Never-Never Land without making it too magical, because while children are fine with some magic, they instinctively understand that too much feels like cheating. (Deus ex machina is actually an appropriate phrase to use; I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine why.)

The portraits of the folk of this indeterminate time (sometime after the Industrial Revolution) are vivid; Peter is resourceful, Molly is a wonderful foreshadowing of Wendy, and Captain Stache - still two-handed - is downright demented. (One gets the sense that he's actually improved by the time of Peter Pan; romantic images aside, pirates were generally not nice or neat people.) And they didn't rein in Dave Barry too much to let some humor in; there's a particular puncturing of the contemporary definition of "savage" that neatly skewered every stereotypical meeting enshrined in books of that era (and the next fifty years.)

Do I recommend it? Of course! It fits neatly into the world that Barrie created; not without a few gaps here and there, but no story is ever 100% complete, and now there is an answer to a daughter's question.

Carnival of the Recipes Harvest

Welcome to the Carnival of the Recipes! First off, I need to introduce you to our host, Pumpkin Spice.

What you need to understand is that Pumpkin Spice is not a person. She's an ad. For coffee, actually.

In 2002, I went to the World Science Fiction convention in San Jose. Upon my return, I was informed that I needed to draw Pumpkin Spice. Naturally, my reaction was "Huh?" But the explanation is quite simple. Pumpkin Spice was a coffee that Borders used to sell (until the café portion of the stores was taken over by Seattle's Best.) Every fall, there was an inter-store competition to see who could sell the most.

My co-workers had, while I was gone, decided that Pumpkin Spice had left the Spice Girls and that I needed to illustrate her. By Tuesday, of course.

Or Monday if I could manage it.

That year's Pumpkin Spice was rather quick, a quasi-anime witch with orange hair. By the next year, when I knew I couldn't get out of it, she'd gotten more towards the perky Goth mode. (Those versions are archived on DVD somewhere and I couldn't find them right now.) And 2004 was the last year of Pumpkin Spice coffee.

Incidentally, we won the competition all three years for our region; by store volume, we sold the highest percentage of bags. More than once, it was the result of someone doing a double-take at the illustrations, then asking for a sample. Witness the power of advertising.

But I missed Pumpkin Spice, so I decided to bring her back. So now on to the food!

As I mixed the proper proportions of my coffee, Teldra said, "How do you brew klava?"

"You don't know?"

She smiled. "I can serve it with the best, but I've never needed to learn how to brew it."

"You press coffee through a filter made of eggshells and wood chips with vanilla bean, then reheat it so it almost boils, then you pass it through a cloth to remove any oils brought out by the reheating."

"Wood chips?"

"Hickory works well, also fegra, cherrywood, and crocra. It's the wood, or combination of woods, that makes each version unique. Well, and how much vanilla you use. Also, some people add cinnamon, but I don't; cinnamon is just as good if you add it later. Everyone has his own recipe. Valabar's does it best, but they do everything best. I miss Valabar's."

—Issola, Steven Brust

Why not celebrate autumn with a warm drink? The Egoist has an idea to spice up your chai. Let us know how that turns out, because as a mild aficionado myself, I won't be trying it.

Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea submits a Cranberry Harvest Tea recipe. The wonderful part about this is that you can start with any black tea you happen to have on hand.

The Common Room linked to this "Russian Tea" recipe as a side for their submission. It's come to the Carnival before, but it's welcome this time as well!

Two troopers in white jackets appeared, quickly setting plates before each officer. On each plate were thin strips of something covered with a glaze.

Alucius tried the first course, discovering it was some sort of tangy fish, covered with a lemon-almond glaze that went down easily.

"Have you had lemon-smoked oarfish before?" asked the majer.

"I'd had oarfish, but not prepared this way," Alucius admitted. "What I've had wasn't nearly this good."

—Darknesses, L.E. Modesitt

The salmon are running and the salmon recipes are coming in. The Common Room's Salmon Chowder can be made at any time, as it only requires canned salmon. Provide your own glutton; the First Year Boy is not available in most states.

Foodies Across Borders present a salmon recipe that is grilled on a cedar plank and served with lemon-chardonnay sauce. Their timeline goes from "a bit in advance" (soak the cedar plank) through "salivating yet?"

Yea, verily, yea.

Kate of Electric Venom posts what she should do Before My Basil Starts Dying. (She should make pesto, that's what.)

"Hercule Poirot says there's always something that no one noticed or thought was important," she said, picking up the Stag At Bay.

Inside was a mass of pungent-smelling brown objects. "What's that?"

"Devilled kidneys," she said, "braised in chutney and mustard. In Hercule Poirot mysteries, there's always one little fact that doesn't fit, and that's the key to the myster." She picked up a charging bull by the horns. "This is cold ptarmigan."

"Aren't there any eggs and bacon?"

She shook her head. "Strictly for the lower classes." She held out a shellacked fish on a fork. "Kipper?"

I settled for porridge.

—To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis

To take a slight detour, American Inventor Spot points us as The Makeover of Everyday Salt. Most of us know about fancy salts, from various sea salts to kosher flake salt (my fave), but table salt? It turns out that a simple change might make everyone's lives a little easier...

And Meanderings found an online cook's thesaurus. It will let you know about conversions and substitutions and weird name changes. While good international cookbooks will do the same (I love how the bargain publisher Hermes House has conversions for all English-speaking countries; "divided by a common language," indeed), it's nice to have a central reference point for the times when you just can't find "aniseed" and you're looking straight past the fennel...

Of all the wonderful food that his spouse produced, Uncle Sebastian most adored the uniquely Devon cream tea— scones, clotted cream, and jam. Margherita made her very own clotted cream, which not all Devon or Cornish ladies did— a great many relied on the dairies to make it for them. The shallow pan of heavy cream simmering in its water-bath would certainly make Uncle Sebastian happy when he saw it.

—The Gates of Sleep, Mercedes Lackey

What is autumn without baking bread? Kicking Over My Traces shows us a recipe for Seven Grain Bread, and a link with photos.

A Weight Lifted takes advantage of the fall fig-harvesting season (which is a bit earlier for Calmyrna figs in places like my parents' front yard) and submits a recipe for Pistacio and Fig Bread. And it's healthy too.

"Is there any supper?"

"There'th walago,* noggi,** sclot,*** swinefletht and thauthageth," said Igor, still clearly upset about the trophies. "I'll thop tomorrow, if Her Ladythip giveth me inshtructionth."

"Is swineflesh the same as pork?" said Vimes. People in drought-stricken areas would pay good money to have Igor pronounce "sausages."

"Yes," said Inigo.

"And what's in the sausages?"

"Er... meat?" said Igor, looking as though he was ready to run.

"Good. We'll give them a try."

———
*A kind of pastry made from curtains.

**Buckwheat dumplings stuffed with stuff.

***Bread made from parsnips, and widely considered to be much tastier than the dull wheat kind.

—The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett

Elisson posts about Meat R Us; how central meat is to the human condition, and how important it is for holidays. He also shows off a lovely beef brisket in the process.

Suite 101— a site for the curious— tells us a little about Kobe Beef: what it is, how hard it is to cook, and the less expensive varieties that are still Kobe. Apparently, while Kobe beef is fatty, it's unsaturated and therefore heart-healthy. I had no idea.

And though a geezer's corner didn't send this link in directly, who can deny that A Simple Steak is a marvelous way to have your beef? "It's what's for dinner", indeed.

For a change of pace, Trinity Prep School submits a Cheese Soup Supper. As they say, this soup's a winner; warm and cheesy.

Janet spread the paper napkin on her lap, picked up her dish of stewed tomatoes, and said, "Now don't look. I'm going to mush these into the macaroni and cheese."

Sharon covered her face with her hands. Nora said, "I've already watched Sharon pepper her cottage cheese until it turned gray; what's a few tomatoes to that?"

—Tam Lin, Pamela Dean

Everything and Nothing has sent in a recipe for Creamy Cajun Shrimp Linguine this week. It's a Mississippi water harvest! (You may also like to know that although she only sends in one recipe every week, Everything and Nothing is chock full of recipe goodness, including things you've never heard of. Sweet and Spicy Bacon. Dessert Nachos. Grenadine. Eggplant Chips. Quite a read.)

It's getting to crockpot season, and triticale submits a Red Beans & Smoked Sausage beauty that looks like the perfect thing to set up the night before, put in the slow cooker in the morning, and come home to at the end of an exhausting day. Bet it makes the house smell wonderful.

Riannan of In the Headlights joins in the fun with a One Pot Meal that involves corn, rice, and chicken. Disease Proof also submits chicken, a vaguely Asian trio of recipes that make for a very healthy (and tasty!) meal. Mom Advice does them one better, in a One Pan One Step Chicken and Potato Bake.

Mom or not, you can't deny how wonderful a one-step cooking process is.

Me-ander (not to be confused with Meaderings, above) submits two recipes; Nameless Leftover Noodle Surprise nd One Pot's Enough For Me (Rice & Veggies).

Seriously Good turns to fall recipes, in this case Kraut-style Pork Chops and Sauerkraut (Choucrote). Pork chops speak of fall to me as well, though my family went for the simple fried chops with applesauce. As you might expect, we kids tended to have the applesauce on the side, in copious amounts and with cinnamon aplenty.

What would harvest be without pumpkin recipes? Famous Recipes presents a Fall Pumpkin Cider Bread. My dirty little secret is that I have never in my life cooked anything pumpkin myself. Not seeds and certainly not bread. I guess the excuse "but I don't have a recipe" won't work anymore.

Not everyone is rushing towards fall. Post-Haste Taste submits a recipe for a Late-Summer Vegetable Mixture. Just going a little crazy for lunch. This is another gorgeous blog about food. I could link the whole thing.

Blabber Heads is steering clear of the whole pumpkin thing and instead submits a recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers. It looks fascinating, but for some reason bell peppers never make it long enough to get stuffed in my vicinity.

Mmm. Sliced fresh bell peppers.

I drizzled liqueur on the strawberries— sparingly, however glad the Ticker might have been to squander the stuff on mere mortals. The smell made me want to lie down in the bowl.

Tick-Tick handed me a bowl and a whisk, and pointed at the milk bottle. "Pour the cream off the top of that and whip it, would you?"

"Wait a minute. That's work."

"It's exercise. Do you good before breakfast."

[...]

The alcohol was gone from the liqueur, the strawberries were warmed and softened, and some of the sugars had caramelized. The waffles were crisp all around the edges and soft in the middle. And the Ticker had stopped me just in time on the whipped cream. There was hot tea to wash it down with, which tasted something like Darjeeling and something like not. It was related to last night's shower: it was a meal to make me grovellingly happy to be alive.

—Finder, Emma Bull

Stop the Ride! has a lovely thought about free apples, and a pie recipe to go with it. Since Stop the Ride! is dedicated to reducing financial problems by living beneath your means, an offer of free apples is not to be refused.

And speaking of apples, writer Diane Duane has a two-part recipe for an apple tart. The crust is here while the delectable apple filling is here.

A geezer's corner tells us of how a rice-cooking accident led to Arborio Rice Pudding. We've all been there, I'm sure; just reaching into the cupboard and grabbing the wrong thing. In this case, though, the end result looks fabulous.

And finally, we end with Men In Aprons' submission, a simple recipe for Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies. Because every meal deserves chocolate cookies.

The Five Red Herrings

The Five Red Herrings Dorothy L. Sayers   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

When the body of a well-known - and not particularly liked - artist is found tumbled down into a rocky stream, it at first looks like an accident. But the rigidity of the body says that he couldn't have possibly died after witnesses last saw him, and there's one other discrepancy that points to murder...

The problem, of course, is to find out who. The victim was a very abrasive man, and there are no fewer than six likely suspects, each with a correspondingly weak alibi. To make matters worse, there's train schedules, bicycles missing everywhere, and numerous reasons for murder. Everyone has a theory, but only one man did the deed.

Lord Peter Wimsey is as whimsical as ever. This is, perhaps, too elaborate a mystery; even the map at the beginning of the book doesn't help sort the changes. No doubt when Sayers wrote the novel, readers would be more familiar with the mental math needed to get one's connections when travelling by rail, but these days very few people worry about more than one transfer on a route, so the elaborate paths are not as readily grasped. It's enjoyable nonetheless.

Have His Carcase

Have His Carcase Dorothy L. Sayers   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

This is an absolutely classic mystery. Harriet Vane, while on vacation, takes a nap on a beach. Upon rising, she finds that a rock that will be covered at high tide (and may only be fully uncovered at the spring tides) has the unfortunate accompaniment of a body - a body of a man only recently killed. She takes photographs, believing (correctly) that the tide will cary the body away before she can get help, and thus starts a truly mystifying case.

Lord Peter Wimsey, of course, immediately comes to offer his assistance, and he and Harriet start a determined effort to ascertain if this death was, as the police believe, a suicide, or if the evidence points to murder. The deceased, a young bearded man, had his throat cut with a straight razor; he had been engaged to an elderly rich widow whose son may have wanted him out of the picture, and in fact, there appears to be something strange going on, but it seems impossible for any of the suspects to have killed the man at the time he must have been killed.

The byplay between Peter and Harriet is highly amusing, especially as he keeps asking her to marry him and she keeps refusing right in the midst of their criminalogical discussions. And, in the end, the solution to the conumdrum is surprising; while the reader is given most of the facts, it requires an intuitive leap to understand how the crime was, in fact, carried out. This is, certainly, one of the best Lord Peter mysteries.

Someplace To Be Flying

Someplace to be Flying Charles de Lint   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This is a story of animal people, not shapeshifters but something older. In a search for animal people, Lily, a photographer, gets assaulted by a frightening man who is killed after Hank arrives and is shot - not by Hank, of course, but by Maida and Zia, two street punks sometimes referred to as "the crow girls." They heal the wounds he inflicted on the two, leaving them to wonder about what sort of magic is in the world.

This is the story of Kerry Maidan and Katy Bean, two very sweet sisters who have reason to fear the other's presence, and their grandmother Nettie - as well as the storyteller Jack Daw and his guilt.

And this is the story of unintended consequences, and the trickster Coyote, who always wants to make things better but somehow makes things worse. His search for Raven's pot, a mystical container that can change the world, brings in all sorts of elements who want a better world - even if they end it in the process.

Some people have complained about the unlikely elements in this novel - well, it *is* a fantasy, after all, and brings in many concepts from de Lint's previous works. It requires an abandonment of preconceptions, but within the world it creates, it remains true to itself.

Trader

Trader Charles de Lint   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

One day, Max Trader, successful luthier, wakes up in someone else's body. As you can imagine, this is a bit of a shock. It turns out that this was a straight-across switch; the man who he switched with - Johnny Devlin - is in his body, but unlike Max, has no interest in trying to fix the situation. And to make matters worse, Devlin was in deep financial trouble; Max soon finds himself with no apartment, no job, and no money, as well as vestiges of Devlin's personality, such as severe mood swings.

This is another novel about just getting by. It is obvious why Devlin would like to have someone else's life, but Max is a bit harder. He's successful at doing what he loves, but as he begins to reflect on his situation he realizes that he was drifting nonetheless - which left him open for a random bit of magic to steal his life away.

And with the help of a stray dog, his young friend Nia, and Zeffy, a woman who has reason to hate Devlin (and who can't quite believe that Max is who he says he is), he's going to do what he can to get his life back.

Charles de Lint has presented a slightly hallucinatory story about the importance of being conscious, and of realizing the importance that one has on the world. It is obvious that Devlin has never outgrown the selfish perspective of a child who believes that the world revolves around him, but it becomes clear that maybe Max needs to grow up a bit as well. This is well worth a read, but it's not exactly easy on the senseless magic, so don't expect a book that is, except for the premise, entirely set in this world.

Ascending

Ascending James Alan Gardner   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

In Expendable, we met Oar, a transparent woman with the demeanor of a child. Oar's race is all but indestructable, but sometime after they have turned fifty, they lose interest in the world and sleep in great glass towers that provide them with focused sunlight (all that they really need.) Near the end of the book, Oar fell eighty stories clutching her sister's murderer, and was presumed to be dead.

Except she isn't dead. She wakes up in the tower when a Freep alien finds her in her tower, laid out with her beloved ax on her chest. It turns out that the death of a high-ranking Admiral in the Technocracy has set certain events in motion; he didn't want to die without a scandal blackening the rest of the council. Oar is part of that evidence, but she was supposed to be dead. However, she can now give evidence in person; in the Freep's living spaceship, they leave the planet Melaquin.

But of course it isn't that simple; the Navy wants to cover up, and has sent ships to quarantine the planet, which they could evade if it it weren't for the mysterious "ship of sticks" that is likewise pursuing them. And there's another complication in the form of an advanced alien that looks like a headless white rhinocerous who promises Oar that he can keep her from succumbing to "Tired Brain" - but only if she understands that there's a potentially fatal risk involved.

The story is told from Oar's point of view, and is somewhat childish as a result, but Gardner keeps the commentary humorous rather than obnoxious. One feels sympathy for Oar even as one laughs at the perception she has of the world. And the case of Oar turns out to have far-reaching implications, not only for humanity, but for Divians and their sub-species, close friends to humanity. (Freeps are a Divian sub-species, as are the Ooloms of Vigilant.)

And, as Oar kindly lets you know at the beginning, the story has a happy ending, with Oar triumphing over all, so one can read the story free of worry and with great enjoyment.

Trapped

Trapped James Alan Gardner   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

James Alan Gardner returns to Earth for this story set in his Expendable universe. Philemon - Phil - and several of his co-workers at a second-rate private school are swept into an almost magical quest when one of their students is found murdered by means unknown. The quest, while thrust upon them, is almost welcomed by these folk. It seems that they understand how seriously they are in ruts, and how greatness has passed them by to the extent that they are willing to fight a mafiaesque group, a shapeshifting alien, and the humdrum run of snarky normal folk just to save one boy, the love of the murdered girl - oh, and incidentally, one of the most powerful psychics Earth has known.

Gardner's explanation of the "magic" that some Earth people possess is entirely plausible within the universe he has created, especially since he has already established that Earth was a bit of an experimental ground for certain alien species. But the true thrust of the story is the longings of the mediocre; it's all well and good to be the best at what you do, but to know that you are incapable of the supreme while still being able to recognize genius is a sort of torture. It also speaks of settling for second best, of treading water and knowing that is what you are doing. Phil is a decent mathematician but knows he is mostly fit for teaching "surplus" rich kids; the Steel Caryatid is a middling sorceress at best; Myoko's telekinesis is weak and causes great strain; and Sister Impenina has to fight constantly to overcome her "unholy" thoughts. This quest is their chance to break free of mediocrity; the Arthurian feel only underscores their fear that they are unsuited to the task, especially when the powerful Spark Lords step in.

It is an entertaining novel, not especially deep, but told from the first-person perspective of someone who feels as though life is passing him by. (Or that he is missing what is right before his eyes; in the cases where Gardner has a male protagonist, one gets the sense that he believes that they are apt to miss a lot of cues.)

Vigilant

Vigilant James Alan Gardner   —   $6.99   —   DVD / VHS product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Vigilant begins with a plague. Not one that affects humans, but one that affects Ooloms, the gentle Divian subspecies that have membranes like flying squirrels. Faye Smallwood is the daughter of the doctor who finds the cure, but only after ninety percent of the Ooloms have died, and like many other humans, suffers from severe survivor's guilt. That guilt leads her into years of self-destructive behavior, until she finally has the courage to join the Vigil.

The Vigil is an organization that oversees the political system of this world. Its members are incorruptible, due to a link-seed implant in their brains; not only useful, but impossible to ignore. They scrutinize the impact of legislation, and present the results, pro and con. But such information has a price: it is entirely possible to literally blown out your brain with an uncontrolled flow of information. Possible and probable to one in nine Vigil inductees.

Faye survives - barely - the implantation, but her first mission, to examine a water plant, ends tragically when killer androids attack her and kill her mentor. Strangest of all, she is saved at one point by a peacock-colored whirlwind, something she has never encountered anywhere. And overseeing the following investigation starts showing her the truth about things she had never imagined - the history of her planet, the source of the plague, and who her father really was. And that maybe, just maybe, she herself is worth caring about.

Commitment Hour

Commitment Hour James Alan Gardner   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

This book is set on Old Earth, a place where those who did not go to the stars remain. (There is, indeed, a New Earth, built by aliens who 'uplifted' humanity.) It is a mixture of odd societies created when Old Tech failed as those who kept it running left. Stranger still are some of the created societies, changed by who-knows-who for unknown purposes.

Such a society is Tober Cove. Starting at the age of one, each person of Tober Cove spends alternating years as each gender, until his or her twentieth year, when the decision is made to be a man or a woman.

Or both.

Neuts - as they are called - are exiled from Tober Cove according to the rules laid down by the Patriarch over a century before. In this book - set in a period of just over a day - Fullin's commitment day is marred by the appearance of such a Neut, who quickly gains protection by being the personal assistant of a Spark Lord, one of the planetary rulers who keep command through alien tech. The Neut, Steck, brings up questions about the whole tradition, causing Fullin to question his own decision (one he has yet to fully make) and bringing up uncertainty about why Tober Cove exists as it does.

Aside from the crude speculations of what it is like to become the other gender every year - which Gardner brings up but manages to give the impression that it's juvenile, something to be outgrown - the deeper question remains of what it is to be able to choose who you most feel like you are. And how do gender relations become just.

Expendable

Expendable James Alan Gardner   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

In Gardner's first novel, humans do their best to explore new worlds where anything can be deadly. Unfortunately, "anything can be deadly" usually equates to someone dying - and they noticed that crews would become incapacitated when popular peole died. Their solution? Make sure that unpopular people died - and by unpopular, they mean "hard to love" or, more specifically, disfigured. Intelligent children with birth defects are tapped to be Explorers, trained to obtain data on unknown worlds - and, incidentally, prevented from receiving medical solutions to their all-too-fixable problems. They are, of course, intelligent enough to realize what this means, and call themselves Expendable Crew Members.

No one said the future would be nice.

Festina Ramos is an Explorer, a lady with a large dark birthmark on her face. She is partnered with a man with part of his jaw missing, and in the oh-so-enlightened space cruiser that they work from, they are largely ignored. When a crazy admiral is assigned to their party and the three of them are sent down to a planet from which no Explorer has returned, they know that they are being abandoned. But what Festina is about to learn is that the situation is far more complex than anyone realizes - because the League of Peoples would not allow humans to be sent down to the planet if the Admiralty knows it is deadly... and this planet closely resembles Earth.

The narration of this book is in little thought sections, as if Festina were writing this out for her own purposes (and with more than a little ironic humor.) It is a very quick read thereby.

Strong Poison

Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

This novel deals with a mystery unlike any that Lord Peter Wimsey has ever dealt with before; there's a suspect with motive and means to have killed the man in question, who has recently written a novel very similar to the circumstances of the murder, and who cannot offer a believable defense - yet Lord Peter believes she is innocent, and has to prove that the death - by arsenic poisoning - was either a suicide or caused by somebody else.

To make matters more interesting, the woman he wishes to save, Harriet Vane, is someone he fell for the moment he saw her. (She is not so calm about the situation, at first dismissing him entirely, and later putting him off.) And her (second) trial is coming up swiftly; Peter only has a few weeks to determine a motive and discover the means, or Harriet will be convicted and hanged.

This is one of the classics of the mystery genre; the reader is given most of the pieces at the start of the novel, yet has to rely on Lord Peter to unravel the innocence of Harriet Vane.

Hunted

Hunted James Gardner   —   $6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Jamese Alan Gardner has created a universe where not only are humans not alone, they're pretty much near the bottom. However, there is an alien organization composed of highly evolved races called the League of Peoples, who have only one rule: You can do whatever you want planetside, but they will not allow dangerous non-sentients to cross galactic boundaries.

The trick is in the definition. A dangerous non-sentient is someone who deliberately kills a sentient being. So no murderers can go to space, no lethal weapons can be packed aboard, and though it is safe to kill non-sentients in self-defense or in keeping non-sentients from travelling - like killing in-system pirates, one has to be very, very careful what one's intentions are.

Because if you're non-sentient, the moment you cross the galactic line, you die. No trial, no appeal, and no revival. (And a troop sent to hunt down the above pirates might have some members die - the League seems to work by intentions, not by outside evidence.)

In Hunted, the third book set in this universe (though it is unnecessary to have read the previous novels), Explorer Edward York is leaving a moon base around the planet Mandasar for the first time in decades because of the war on the planet's surface. Edward is, to put it bluntly, dumb - he is not really capable of making connections between events, though he has been highly trained in protocol and has a good sense of what will offend people. Shortly into the voyage, he is dragged to a wild party where the entire crew seems on edge, and when they cross the galactic line he finds out why: every other person on the ship immediately drops dead.

As the only person left alive, but one who is incapable of determining why the whole crew was determined to be non-sentient, he is in charge - but it quickly turns out that the story is bigger than one crew. There's a dead hive queen on board - the ruling race of Mandasar - and the Technocracy wants to cover up the whole business, even if it means marooning Edward. And it turns out that Edward - unwanted, unloved, stupid Edward - might be the key to not only stopping a war, but finding out who started it to begin with, and why.

Edward himself is highly likeable, and doesn't seem to be nearly as stupid as he thinks he is. That turns out to be a plot point, not merely sloppy writing; like Charly in Flowers For Algernon, an increase in intelligence shows Edward things he'd rather not see. The reader may figure out what's going on sooner than Edward himself, but Gardner hides enough clues that one can still be surprised by the (highly satisfying) conclusion.

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park Jane Austen   —   $7.00   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction

Mansfield Park features a heroine totally unlike any of Austen's other heroines. Instead of being witty, she is shy and afraid of speaking out of turn. Instead of being strong and healthy, she is frail. And instead of pushing her limits, she is frightened by impropriety.

Young Fanny (Frances) Price was brought into the high society of Mansfield Park at the age of ten as a favor to her mother, whose ever-increasing brood of children is oppressive on her family's small income. Fanny's aunts are pretty horrible; her rich aunt is a lazy do-nothing and her Aunt Norris is an interfering busybody who always advises that Fanny is taught her place, i.e. a charity case who needs to be made useful. (The "usefulness" usually wears out the fragile Fanny, something which Mrs. Norris discounts as she is strong and healthy herself.) Fanny's uncle is a good sort but his stern manner has caused her to fear him, a fear which turns out to be unjustified.

Fanny's female cousins are beautiful and bright, and unfortunately a bit too much doted on. Spoiled is the appropriate term - they are a bit wild and inclined to think too much of their talents. When Mr. and Miss Crawford join the society of Mansfield Park, both girls immediately latch onto young Harry, who flirts with them outrageously, and cousin Edmund - who has been Fanny's only source of kindness and sobriety, and whom she dotes on secretly - falls for Miss Crawford, who likes him back but wants society instead of marrying the clergyman he is destined to become. The Crawfords are likewise brilliant and charming but are a bit coarse in their manners, something Fanny seems unique in noticing.

And then Harry starts pursuing Fanny, much to her great surprise, and as usual, Mrs. Norris agitates for her "best interests" even though Mr. Crawford repulses her. The happy ending seems a bit contrived, as this is a moral piece; it feels a little like Jane Austen couldn't allow the reforming virtues of Fanny and Edmund to do their work properly; she had to stress that bad upbringing left its mark on people's characters. Still, Fanny is a very likeable character, painfully shy but sympathetic. Thankfully, she is fully appreciated by the end of the novel - she is not the sort of person to assert her rights.

Emma

Emma Jane Austen   —   $4.95   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction

I have said before that appreciating Jane Austen is an exercise in reading between the lines. This is the book for which that power fails me. Sometimes, for some books, I have difficulty tracking what is happening. Sometimes, my powers of visualization simply fail me. (A notable example is the battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings - I am very glad to have seen the movies because the battles just confused me before I saw references for them.)

It doesn't help that I am continually distracted every time I have read this book so far. It seems to be a distraction-magnet for me. But it's immensely annoying to be missing the humor that I *know* is present, because most of Austen's other novels have it. Oh, well. Maybe when I someday see the movie, it will make the book click for me; until then, I give it a three and a note that most people find this their favorite Austen novel of all.

Tigana

Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay   —   12.57   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This is the sort of book that tears your heart out.

It is a tale with deeply woven elements of politics, war, tyranny, memory, and the meaning of freedom. And love. One cannot forget love.

The story starts in a land under foreign rule, split by two sorcerous tyrants. Four provinces lie under the rule of Alberico of Barbadior, a conqueror whose ultimate goal is to become Emperor of his homeland, and four lie under the rule of Brandin, King of Ygrath, who came to the Palm to carve out a kingdom for his younger son.

His younger son, who was killed in the invasion.

As Brandin is a sorceror, and ruler of a kingdom of military might, his reprisal is extraordinarily harsh. He smashes the cities of the responsible province, burns their books, destroys their art, and kills women and children before placing the province under heavy military rule.

And then, using sorcery, he strips away their name. Those who were not born in the province before Brandin came cannot hear the name, or read the name. And when those who can are dead, there will be no one left who can remember anything of the land before the fall. It is the reality of Shelley's poem Ozymandias within a generation, and the survivors know all too well what will happen.

Names are power, as we sometimes forget. Language shapes our reality; those things we have no words for are difficult to believe in.

This novel opens almost twenty years after the invasion. The provinces have grown used to oppression, and barely know what it is to dream of freedom; a misstep can lead to torture and death in this land. Yet there are a few members of the renamed province (called Lower Corte after their old enemies) who have been working to bring the Tyrants down - if they kill Brandin, their name is restored but their land is lost to Alberico; if Alberico dies, Brandin would be all but impossible to kill. The only path is to bring the two to war, a path that has been years in the making, a path whose success depends upon the tiniest of things.

To truly make a tragedy of epic proportions, we are introduced to Brandin through the eyes of a young survivor who came to his court in order to kill him. Her whole life has become an elaborate deception, but eventually she has to come to terms with the fact that she has fallen in love with him, because he is a man who is educated, intelligent, and caring - and a man who is no stranger to power. (One wonders what sort of person he would have been had he not been so powerful; one of the tragedies of the novel is that one can wonder, but the reality is brutal.) She has to deal with the fact that her two goals are opposed to one another: freedom for her country and happiness with the man she loves.

And as all the elements begin to come together, it becomes evident that there is no happy ending; people will die before the end, good people who are following good causes, and innocents, along with people who truly might deserve death. And it is then that you can truly see the struggles that define a good leader, and one who wonders about the morality of his actions. Because sometimes, the obvious is not the whole of the thing, and a concubine to a tyrant can be something more than a traitor to her people, and a war where good people die can be the only path to healing.

"Do you want freedom to be easy, Erlein bar Alein? Do you think it drops like acorns from trees in the fall?"

In a land long oppressed, the truth is that everything has a price. And for the characters of Tigana, the price is heavy - but, one can hope, well worth it.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club Dorothy L. Sayers   —   6.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

It begins, naturally enough, with a death: the death of an old man at the club. A natural death, as it seems, but the timing of the death is very important for inheritance purposes, so Lord Peter Wimsey is asked to help out. In the course of his investigations, he determines that the death could not have happened at the time that it ifrst appeared, which meant that someone had interfered with the body. And, of course, as it is a matter of inheritance, the possibility arises that it could be murder.

Of course, there's many people who could have wanted the old man to die at a particular time, and many of them are abrasive enough to seem capable of it. And yet, Peter is sure that a murderer would be far more subtle than that...

This is an interesting book primarily because of the gentleman's club, an institution that has largely vanished from the American landscape. (I have no direct knowledge of its presence or absence from the British landscape.) Another thing that seems to have ebbed is the concept of "doing the right thing" by sacrificing oneself so as to protect another. It is a portrait of a world that no longer exists